| Today, the seaweed industry's main products are the alginates and carraghenanes. The industrial network faces many problems. However, it remains prosperous since it ranks fifth in the world for alginate production and third for caraghenanes'. This stability which seems safe on a middle term standpoint must not conceal the crisis which previously hit Fucus' exploitation. Rightly so, being harvested until approximately 1950 for soil amendment purposes, coastal kelp (i.e. Fucus), was replaced by chemical fertilizers. Brittany's production which was reaching 180 000 cubic metre in the twenties, close to 200 000 tons of fresh kelp, would have become non existent if it had not been converted into seaweed meal for livestock feed. The market demand was then... |
